Recommendations on a cafe style frame?

[lolitsdaelan]

First off, hello again to the forums! It's been a long time since I've been on here!
I recently sold off my first build, and while it hurt to let it go, I'm ready to begin on the next project (with money from the first, circle of life maybe?)

So my first build was cafe-ish ...
As seen here
But I would of liked to get a banana seat on there and to have the bike sit a touch lower. With that said, does anyone have any recommendations? I found a website that sells "lowrider" bike frames, but it's hard to tell how it would work out considering the actual lowrider bike looks SO different from a cafe with all the extras.

Maybe something like this?
Exhibit A

Thanks!

 

[culvercityclassic]

I checked out "Maybe something like this?" and it looks super nice. Why don't you build one like that with a lay-back seat post? That way you can have it back some and low and add some clip-on bars. Like Venice says...can't go wrong with a FELT bike.

 

[lolitsdaelan]

I agree, its just what I'm looking for!

I guess I should of specific that I'm looking for not only a frame style, but a place to buy them as well

**EDIT**

Should googled before I responded. Those are amazing! Also super expensive!

Know of any similarly style bikes at a more reasonable price?

 

[SlowBalt]

I was thinking abought this frame with a tripple tree fork and clipon bars with a layed back seatpoast http://www.konaworld.co/bike.cfm?content=humu

 

[lolitsdaelan]

That frame looks perfect! Too bad it's only a concept :\

So I've been wondering, what is it about Felt bikes that make them so good? I was surprised to see that they are only a single gear and have a coaster brake and still cost over $500! Is it Wi-Fi enabled or something?

 

[AirPirate 32]

Daelen,

I'm sitting in the same seat right now; finished my first build on an aluminum frame beach crusier bought cheap (major lessons learned there!) with the "Issue" Grubee 49cc kit from China. I was (at first) surprised at how well the project worked out...I had the bike up and running, and looking alot like some of the higher quality bikes ST used to put out with only minimal fabrication of mounts for the wider tubes, etc. After a few months (short haul only....would've been quicker if I was commuting daily) of trouble free riding, the "quality" issue became reality. First off, the bearings of a cheaper cruiser can't handle the extra heat from travelig at twice their design rpm...that leads to chain slap...that leads to loose chain...that leads to having the drive sprocket wrap up and sieze your engine at 22 mph So after some research and thought, I decided that what I REALLY needed to be happy in life was a low displacement, vinatge 70's italian moped cooked up cafe style...say a Bultaco, straight bar Puch, etc...but who's got several thousand dollars to put down for a fully restored classic? Besides, if I had that kind of dough, those guys at Firebikes could make me a real mean machine. So, I made a list of "minimum" specs for my next build: wider tires, steel frame with classic styling, triple tree fork (pref. front suspension), dual brakes or capability to mod, and handle bar stem flush with the downtube so I can do clubman's w/o looking like a goober. End of the day, it comes down to the Grubee GT1 (poor reviews, long stem, small tires), the Micargi Rover GT (nice everything really, but reviews indicate 3 inchers aren't a great match, and finally, the Felt Guapo or 1903 (can't decide if I wanna go Brando meets Wright Bros. or Fonzy tours little Italy). End of the day, for what I "think" you and I want, we're looking to drop at least a grand to $1200 just getting there...still cheaper than $3-4K for the 70's micro cafe racers

 

[sportscarpat]

When I think of a cafe racer I think of the 60's style road racing motorcycles and they all had the fairing type seat and front fairing. Building a seat like that would be cool. Is the TZ 750 considered a cafe racer? YouTube - Yamaha TZ750

 

[wheelbender6]

My formula would be an older diamond framed mountain bike with a low, moped styled fuel tank and banana seat. The mountain bike would accomodate fat tires with a full width drum brake on the front. Make a tail fairing from the plastics from a dirt motorcycle. Just my $.02

 

[AirPirate 32]

sportscarpat,

The TZ750 is one sweet ride, no doubt about it, but here again...we're talking apples to oranges. A "real" cafe racer should be period specific, something along the lines of a Triumph or Norton circa early to mid 60's; BSA's look super cool as well. Obviously somethig outside the realm of motorized bicycles. There's been a great deal of mods performed on early model CB750's and 350's (used to have one myself) that can get you the "look" minus the five digit price tag for the real deal. The downside is travelling 100 mph on a murder machine with specially tuned sprocket and everything to turn you into a human bullet. As I get older (and hopefully wiser), the notion of turning into a sausage creature is less exciting, which got me into low displacement bikes...but hey, a guy want's to at least look cool travelling at 30 mph Try looking at some of the Royal Nords, Puchs and early Enduro bikes for a similar look. Honda picked up the pace a few years abck with a re-run CB50 with cafe DNA, but they're still asking the same $$$ as some of their 350 class starter cruisers...hard to apy that much for somethig that's not even street legal. From what I can tell, the bigger Felts and Nirve "chopper" bikes have alot in common, and can be modified to handle the extra stress of a Morini or Honda engine to get to the same result for about half the price.

 

[wheelbender6]

This was what I was getting at. The frame needs to be a size smaller than you would normally ride.

 

[Allen_Wrench]

I had a dear friend who had on old Ducati cafe racer. No...the bike didn't kill him. He just sold it before he died.

But those old Ducatis were beasts! The human bullet thing is not far off the mark. You almost need a pilot's license to fly one of those.

 

[AirPirate 32]

Allen Wrench,

Well said; I've owned a few of the 600-750cc machines and found that correlating the experience of sitting pretty on a stock CB750 is nothing like laying down on a tuned CB360 with sprocket mods, clip-ons and a true rear set...like strapping a turbine to a Cessna 150

Getting back to our 30 mph world; I'm thinking the formula for the "look" is somethig like this: Felt or Nirve triple tree fork, 2.125 tires, front disc brake, clip on's (do they make them that small?) and a moped "loaf" tank, Motobecane etc. The last question is...engine...naturally a 2 will look better, but the real question (based on my current Grubee Skyhawk's performance) is whether or not a Morini is worth the ducats...bottom line, you're looking at $600 for the bike, $600 for the engine, plus the mods, so another $300. At $1500 plus, you can buy a sweet CB360 or maybe even a true Puch or Motobecane. The catch is...can you find one? In my case, I'm thinking I'm just going to end up building a repro Honda CB50 from scratch Anyone know any "real world" details about kick start 50cc motors? Any (cheaper) competitors to Morini that actually fit into a Felt?

 

[camlifter]

heres where i'm at for a cafe build.
http://motorbicycling.com/f36/welcome-acme-cafe-29146.html
still working on the body. the k10 suzuki forks are the way to go for this style of build. hope to see more people do a cafe bike, the style is just to cool.